The Lower East Side
For nearly two centuries, this block, bounded by Orchard, Allen, Delancy and Broome Streets, has been a first home for immigrants, and has been shaped and reshaped by generations of newcomers
Early 1880s
During the early 1800s, American-born, workers of English, Scottish and protestant Irish-descent inhabited wood and brick two- and three-story single-family homes, which lined the dirt street and sometimes housed small shops or factories. Beginning in the 1840s, the area surrounding Orchard Street became home to large numbers of German immigrants.
1863
In 1828, on the site where 95, 97 and 99 Orchard Street now stand, the Orchard Street Dutch Reformed Church was built. In 1863, German-born tailors Jacob Walter, Lukas Glockner and Adam Stumm purchased the church property and immediately divided it into three building lots. The church was soon demolished, and the three men erected the block's first purpose-built tenements on their individual lots.
1900
By 1900, this block was the most densely populated place on earth - home to 2,223 people on 2.04 acres - most of whom were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Three years later, in 1903, the northern end of the block was truncated to widen Delancy Street as an approach to the newly built Williamsburg bridge, and three buildings on each
side of the street were demolished. Then, in 1913, the three individual tenements at 103, 105 and 107 Orchard Street were joined to make one corner building.
1930s
Orchard Street has been home to countless businesses over the past two hundred years: from lager beer saloons and groceries in the late 1800s to undergarment shops and dry goods stores in the early 1900s. When a significant number of tenements on Orchard Street were vacated during the 1930s, Orchard Street's profile as a commercial center assures adequate rents from the shops alone and, therefore, the survival of the buildings.
1988
In 1988, 97 Orchard Street was rediscovered by the Lower East Side Tenement Museum which was searching for a home in which the history of tenement life and the diverse immigrant experience on the Lower East Side could be brought to life.
www.tenement.org
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